Mothers and Others

The Role of Parenthood in Politics

When women in politics interact with reporters, opponents, and constituents, they are forced to confront their parental status. If they have children, they are questioned about their competence in both their public and private lives. If they don’t, they face criticism for not understanding or relating to key policy domains. This “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” conundrum raises difficult questions about how politicians, voters, and the media navigate the intersection of gender, parental status, and politics.

Mothers and Others brings together scholars researching political careers, party organization, political behaviour and representation, and public policy to discuss the role of parental status in political life. They look at three main areas of citizen engagement with the political system – parenthood and political careers, parenthood in the media, and parenthood and political behaviour – to argue that being a parent is a gendered political identity that influences how, why, and to what extent women (and men) engage with politics.

The first major comparative analysis of the role of parenthood in politics, Mothers and Others makes important observations about what we know and what we still need to find out.

Mothers and Others is for scholars and students of political science, gender and women’s studies, and sociology both in Canada and abroad.

Drawing on substantive empirical data, the authors challenge typical, run-of-the-mill work on women, parental status, and politics while adding intriguing ideas and important insights to the published literature.Joan Grace, professor of political science, University of Winnipeg

Mothers and Others offers a comprehensive and international look at what motherhood means for the political lives of women as citizens, voters, candidates, and members of government.Laura Stephenson, associate professor of political science, University of Western Ontario

Melanee Thomas is an associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary. Amanda Bittner is an associate professor of political science at Memorial University.